The Early Days
by LangiTheTigress
Summary: This tells of Kurt's arival at the institute and other things left out, his first day of school, the arivals of Kitty and Evan, and how they find out about Kurt real mutation. FINISHED


**Disclaimer: I only own my own ideas**

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The Early Days

**By Langi B (aka FireTigress**

Kurt could hear the whoosh of the train passing through the tunnel. He kept his eyes closed but he could hear the talk of the other occupants of the subway car. He never looked at the people he heard around him. That would be a very bad idea. He took in the slow deep breaths of someone trying to calm down. Kurt was on his way to Bayville, New York. His parents had decided it was best for him to go to a boarding school outside of Germany. Kurt had overheard them talking about it a few months ago. He had a talent for eavesdropping that he often put to good use. They would send him to America to live at a special school for 'kids like himself' 'where he would be safe' they had said. Kurt had hated the idea at first, he had yelled at his parents and told them that he would rather die then leave home and live with total strangers. Then he had stormed out of the house and hid in the woods for hours, coming home well after dark. After he had calmed down, they had explained that the people he would be living with were kids like him, who wouldn't judge him. Kurt had good reason of course, to be so upset. He was what the world would come to know as a mutant: human beings born with incredible powers. All mutants are different, some can fly, read minds, shoot fire, or even shape shift. Kurt's mutant power was teleportation, the power to instantly move from one point to another, as long as he could see where he was going or was very familiar with the area. But Kurt had another kind of mutation, a much more rare kind that made it very hard for him to be part of society. He had a physical mutation; his appearance was altered drastically by his mutation. Anyone looking at Kurt wouldn't believe they were looking at a human at all. They would see a bizarre humanoid creature, covered from head to toe in very fine blue fur. And if that wasn't enough, Kurt also had long pointed ears, pale yellow eyes that glowed faintly in the dark, and a prehensile tail with a spaded tip. He also had three fingered hands, and digigrade legs ending in two toed feet. Of course Kurt was upset by leaving home. He was terrified every time he left the house. Now, Kurt looked at his ticket stub. His stop was coming up next. His mother told him that the headmaster of his new school would be there to meet him. His stomach lurched along with the train as it came to a stop. Reaching under the seat for his suitcases, Kurt kept his head down. He was wearing a horrible rough cloak that covered him completely and had an overly large hood that he could only see the floor in. He hauled the suitcases to the door, bumping along with all the other people. Kurt dared not look up for the Professor. As he stood wondering what to do next he heard someone mention his name in the din of the subway station. He waited a few moments until he heard the quite whir of a small motor and the wheels of a wheel chair came into his view. When the Professor spoke, he had a soft, commanding voice, which seemed friendly and stern at once. "Kurt Wagner, my name is Charles Xavier. This is Ororo Monroe; she is one of our instructors." Kurt nodded and muttered a greeting. The woman Ororo spoke next. She had a strange accent that he couldn't place. "Do you have everything Kurt? We have to get back to the Institute." Kurt nodded again and followed them out of the station. These people didn't seem unnerved by him yet, but he was positive that would change when they saw him. Then again, if these people where used to dealing with freaks like him maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Freak. Kurt hated the word with a passion but had to admit there was no word that was more fitting of him. After loading his luggage into the Professor's car, which Kurt had to admit, was a very nice car, he sat down in a seat across from the older man, staring down at the floor. The Professor told Kurt about their school, the other instructor, and the other two students. While he spoke almost the whole way there, he never asked Kurt any questions or expected him the respond, for which he was extremely grateful. For a while the professor spoke with Ororo, discussing subjects that were uninteresting to Kurt. Bored, he glanced out the window, having seen that they were heavily tinted before getting in the car earlier. He saw your average modern town, fast food restaurants, gas station after gas station, and the biggest mall he had ever seen, but then again, having grown up in the German country side; Kurt had seen very few malls. Kurt was brought out of his thoughts by the Professor's voice. "Ah, here we are." He looked out the front window to see a huge mansion on a beautiful grassy cliff, surrounded by trees and overlooking the bay. They stopped at the front gate as Ororo put in a security code. The gate opened smoothly and they continued along the driveway to the front door. So, this is my new home? Kurt thought. I hope this isn't a huge mistake.

Kurt was sitting on his bed in his new room. He had met the other two students, Scott and Jean, yesterday. They seemed nice, though he had noticed Scott's reaction when they shook hands. He always noticed things like that. He had just gotten settled into his room the night before and tried on his X-men uniform when they had an unexpected visitor. Some kid named Todd Something. But that didn't matter now. Kurt was smiling, staring at his hands. But they didn't look like his hands. They looked like normal hands. Human hands. Professor Xavier had given him the most wonderful gift. An image inducing holowatch. An amazing device that projected a holographic image of what Kurt would look like as a normal human, over himself, so that he could pass freely in public. Kurt just sat on his bed, staring at himself in the mirror. It wasn't that he was vain; he was just worried that if he looked away it would disappear; he would find that he had only imagined it. Finally, he stood to explore his new room. It was simple but large. He had a bed with a small table and reading lamp next to it. There was a dresser with a large mirror, book shelf, a desk, the biggest stereo and speakers he had ever seen, and large French doors that opened onto a small balcony. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all; he no longer had to live in fear of someone finding him. There was a knock on his door that made him jump, barely resisting his instinct to teleport. "Ja?"

"Kurt? It's me Scott." Kurt calmed himself "Come in." Scott opened the door and smiled when he saw Kurt with his hologram on. "Looks good on you man, not that I don't think the ears are cool." Kurt had to smile at that. If there was one thing he really admired in a person it was a sense of humor. "Ja thanks." Scott looked a little awkward for a moment. "Hey Kurt, the Prof asked if I would take you to the mall to get some new cloths, if you wanted to?" Kurt had sudden mixed feelings, years of hiding told him that going to a crowded place like the mall was suicide, but the teenager in him said it would be fun to hang out with Scott and get new cloths. All he had now was about five pairs of cheap jeans and various tee-shirts. In the end, the teenager side won. "Sure, I guess." Scott crossed his arms, smiling. "Cool." Kurt walked down the hall with Scott, his hands in his pockets. "There are just a couple rules I was told to pass on. Number one; don't make skin contact with anyone. Don't bump into anyone, shake hands, or anything. The Prof. said that hologram won't keep people from feeling your, fur." Kurt nodded seriously; he was starting to feel a little more nervous. "Second, try not to hit or bump your image inducer. It's a delicate device and there's no telling what amount of abuse it can take." Kurt was feeling very nervous now. They headed down the staircase to the foyer where Kurt could see Scott's little red convertible outside the huge windows and doors that made up the entry way of the mansion. Scott was digging in his pocket for his car keys. "Well, I think that's about…Uh, Kurt?" Kurt looked at up at him, wondering why he was looking like he trying not to laugh. "Vhat?" Scott got himself under control. "I think we have to fix that first." Kurt followed Scott's gaze to… his tail sticking out of his otherwise normal looking body. "Jeeze! Vhat am I going to do vith zhis?" Scott was once again trying not to laugh. "Can you wrap it around your waist?" Kurt worked hisflexible tail around his waist under his shirt. It was as uncomfortable as hell but it worked. Scott patted his shoulder as they went out the front door. "Don't worry man; we've got time to work out all the bugs.

After getting back from the mall with Scott, Kurt put all his new clothes away and was now sitting at his desk, wearing what would become one of his favorite outfits; olive cargos, a maroon ¾ sleeve shirt, and a lose khaki over shirt. He was writing a letter home. Telling his parents that he had made it safely and about the others in the institute. No one could ever tell him that adopted parents loved their kids any less the blood parents. His parents had decided to take him in, loving him despite his demonic features. Who ever his real parents were, they had probably abandoned him after getting one look at him. _Kurt, time for dinner._ Kurt nearly hit the ceiling. He had only had a couple experiences of the Professor and Jean speaking to him telepathically and it still freaked him out. Yeah, you're one to complain about being freaked out. He chided himself. Kurt folded up the letter to his parents and turned his light out. He flicked on his image inducer, sending a wave of static over his entire body, leaving behind his light skinned, blue eyed self. Kurt teleported right outside the kitchen, he was already very familiar with this part of the mansion, so he had no trouble porting here. He walked into the dinning room just as Logan, the other instructor, and Scott were bringing the food to the table, he had learned that everyone had code names too, Logan was Wolverine. Kurt didn't really know what a wolverine was except that it was some sort of furry animal which compared to Logan, didn't make much sense. Scott was Cyclops, which made more sense because of the visor he wore in uniform. Jean and Ororo, who were seated at the table with Professor Xavier, had obviously done the cooking. Ororo was called Storm, because her mutant power was control over the weather. Jean hadn't told him her name yet and he was beginning to think she didn't have one. He had come up with Nightcrawler for himself. He had reasons of course, not that he would tell anyone though. Kurt sat down next to Scott, across from Logan. He was quiet while he listened to their chit chat about school, training, and the possibility of more mutants joining them in the future. Kurt only spoke when Ororo asked him about his first day out. He answered her politely and quickly. He wasn't quite comfortable enough with these people yet to be himself. After dinner, Logan said he was going for a ride, Scott said he had a date with someone named Taryn, and Jean needed to study. Kurt decided he would just crash for the night. It had been a long, stressful day and he needed his rest, badly.

It was the day Kurt had been dreading. His first day of school. While most kids join the scholarly world in kindergarten, furry blue kids are usually home schooled. Professor Xavier had given him a couple weeks to adjust and get used to his image inducer. That time was now up. According to his calculations, Kurt thought he had gotten about three hours and thirty-seven minutes of sleep Sunday night. Though who knows how well someone can calculate going on three hours and thirty-seven minutes of shut eye. Kurt was sitting in the back seat of Scott's car. Jean was in the passenger seat, trying to comfort him. "Don't worry Kurt, nothings going to happen." Kurt would not be that easily convinced. "How do you know zhat? Can you see future too?" Jean sighed. "Its only school. What could go wrong? Just make sure you don't make skin contact. It's not that hard to hide our powers." Kurt rolled his eyes. "Easy for you to say, all you have to do is not zhink to hard." He wasn't mean on purpose, he was just extremely nervous and scared, and it just came out that way. Jean turned back around in her seat. "I'm sorry Jean, I'm just, scared." Kurt buried his face in his hands. His face still felt like his face and his hands still felt like his hands. Jean faced him again, smiling encouragingly. "Scott and I will be there all day; you can contact me if you need anything." He smiled worriedly and nodded, trying to believe Jean was right.

They were all standing outside the door to Kurt's first class. "It's alright man, the bell is gonna ring soon. You have to go in eventually." He put his hands on Kurt shoulders and gently pushed him toward the door. "Vhy can't I just be home schooled?" Jean mentally slid Kurt the last few feet to the door and it opened up in front of him. He gave her a mind glare for cheating like that. Kurt suddenly realized that the teacher and his whole class were staring at him. His tail was fighting to get lose in his anxiety. His teacher was a middle aged woman with shoulder length brown hair. "Hello? Oh, you must be the new student. Kurt Wagner right?" Kurt nodded. "Vagner, you say it…Vagner…" The teacher smiled and a couple of the students sniggered. "Alright, well Mr. Wagner, my name is Mrs. Lakaway, would you like to tell the class a little about yourself." A very little. Kurt prayed that these kids couldn't smell fear. "Ja, ok. Um, I just moved here from Germany, and I'm living at the Xavier Institute." Several of the students exchanged looks that didn't seem at all friendly. Kurt wondered if he shouldn't have mentioned that. "Well Mr. Wagner, maybe you could teach us a little German before we begin class." The majority of the class groaned loudly. Kurt only groaned to himself. One thing he hated about America was everyone always asked him to say stupid things in German. "So, how would you say Good Morning in German?" Kurt tried as hard as he could not to make eye contact with anyone, keeping a watchful eye on his image inducer. "Guten Morgen." Mrs. Lakaway had whole class repeat all of Kurt's stupid German phrases for what seemed like forever before he finally got to sit down, thanking the heavens that his deep blush didn't show through his hologram.

The rest of the day went pretty much without incident. Only after Gym, when he had to sneak out without a shower, because, who knew if his image inducer was water proof? Of course, since he didn't know the school very well yet, the only safe place to teleport was the roof, which ultimately meant he was late for Math class.

After a couple more weeks at the Xavier Institute, Kurt was feeling more comfortable with his new house mates. Comfortable enough to tease Jean and Logan, play pranks on Scott, and teleport all over the mansion without worry of ending up in a wall. Then one night the Professor called them all to his office. "This evening, Cerebro found another mutant signature. A young girl by the name of Katharine Pryde. Jean, if you would accompany me to Chicago tomorrow to talk with the girls parents?" Jean agreed a little reluctantly and the Professor dismissed them. Kurt ported to his room to start on his homework. A new student. This will be interesting. Kurt thought. I wonder if she knows she's coming to a boarding school for kids who shoot lasers from their eyes, read people's minds, and look like a Halloween costumes. Probably not, he decided.

"Man, is zhere nozhing on Vednesday night?" Kurt was flipping channels while Scott just silently wished he would either pick a channel or turn it off. Jean and Professor Xavier had gone to see the new girl a few days early and, after some trouble, had managed to convince her parents to let her live at the Institute. Several hours ago they had gone to pick her up. Scott finally grabbed the remote from Kurt. "Jeeze Kurt would you just-." Logan opened the door to the rec room, startling both the younger boys. "The Prof. and Jean just landed; he wants everyone in the hanger." Scott jumped up and headed out the door. Kurt was right behind him. Logan put an arm out in front of him. "Forgetting something Elf?" Kurt was confused for a moment. "Oh, sorry Logan." He flipped his image inducer on; there would be plenty of mayhem if he showed up looking like, well, himself. Logan growled the way he always did. "That's better."

As Kurt, Scott, and Logan entered the hanger, they could see Jean and Ororo helping the new girl with her luggage. The Professor wheeled over to them. "Ah, here we are. Kitty, come here please." The girl came over to stand next to the Professor. "Kitty, this is Scott Summers, Kurt Wagner, and Logan, our training instructor. This is Kitty Pryde. Kitty greeted them all. If Kurt had had any previous encounters with the opposite sex at anytime in his life he would have recognized the way she looked Scott and himself over. It's probably for the best that he didn't though. "Kurt, would you and Scott help Miss. Pryde with her bags." Scott reached for one of Kitty's bags but Kurt beat him to it. "No need mein freund." He grabbed both of the bags and teleported with a puff of sulfuric smoke. Kurt waited for them in the hall that all the dorms connected to. After a little while Jean and Kitty came up the stairs. "And here's the girls bathroom, and your bed room." Kurt held her bags as Jean opened the door. He gave her what he thought was his most dashing smile. Was she blushing? "Th-thank you. Kurt, right?" "Ja, I hope you have a good sleep, I mean, I hope you sleep well Keety." Kitty looked like she wanted to get into her room and shut the door as quickly as possible. "Yeah, like, good night." And that's what she did.

Kurt groaned as he headed back to the living room with Jean. "I couldn't have screwed zhat up more. Gott she hates me alveady." Jean tried comforting him, because that's just what Jean does. "Don't worry Kurt; she still needs to get settled. Besides, you still have 'revealing the real you' to look forward to." Kurt gave her a death glare. "Zhats not funny Jean."

Kurt was sitting in Professor Xavier's office, several days after Kitty moved in. He was fidgeting nervously, with good reason too. The Professor had decided that the time had come to tell Kitty about Kurt. Scott put an arm over his shoulder. "Relax Kurt. You knew you couldn't go forever without her knowing." Kurt nodded quickly, his nerves high. There was a quite knock on the door that made Kurt jump in his seat. "Yes Kitty, come in please." The Professor nodded to a seat next to Jean and Kitty sat down. "Now Kitty. He continued once she had sat down. "You know well by now that everyone at the Institute is here because they have the X gene, what gives mutants like us out powers." Kitty nodded though she still looked somewhat bewildered. "You know that Kurt here, has the power of teleportation, but he has a different kind of mutation also, in addition to his power." Kurt was taking deep slow breaths, not daring to look at her. "He has a physical mutation as well. One that makes him more obviously a mutant then the rest of us." Kurt could hear uncertainty and confusion in Kitty's voice. "But he like, looks normal to me." Professor Xavier went on calmly, his fingers pyramided in front of him. "Yes, Kurt wears a special device I designed that produces a holographic images as you see him now. Now Kitty, please try to stay calm, Kurt is going to turn off his image inducer so you can see him as he really is." The Professor turned to Kurt. "When you're ready Kurt." Kurt wanted nothing more then to just disappear, and by the look on Kitty's face, so did she, and even though both were perfectly capable of such a feat, they stayed where they were. Just get it over with, Kurt told himself. He put his hand over his holowatch and closed his eyes. 1...2...3…Kurt squeezed down on the watch. He felt the faint static feeling as his hologram disappeared. He heard a quite gasp from Kitty and he kept his eyes tightly closed. "I-I…I'm sorry" He heard her running across the floor and looked up just as she disappeared, literally, though the door.

It took a few moments before everything sank in and Kurt fell backwards onto the couch. "Oh- mein Gott! Zhat vas a disaster." He buried his face in his hands. Jean tried to comfort him. "Cheer up Kurt; it could have been a lot worse." Kurt looked up at her. "Ja, it could've been vorse if she came at me vith a pitchfork and a torch." Professor Xavier put a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "Everything will be fine Kurt. The worst is over; just show her what a kind person you are and she will learn to look past your physical features and get to know who you are inside." Kurt let out a long sigh. "I guess your vight, I'm going to crash, Gute Nacht." Kurt teleported to his room and without changing clothes fell into bed. He did however, reach over in the dark, and turn his image inducer back on.

In the following days, Kitty seemed to avoid Kurt whenever possible. Even though he never walked around the mansion without his image inducer off, just for her sake, she still seemed to go out of her way not to be in the same room as him She would leave the breakfast table as soon as he came in, never making a fuss about it but as politely as she could. If they were all watching TV in the living room, Kitty would always remember some homework she hadn't finished. Even at dinner, she would sit as far from Kurt as possible, usually next to Jean, as though sitting next to her would automatically put a protective force field around her. At school Kitty tried to ignore him. She had quickly made a group of friends and would only mutter a greeting to Kurt if he practically cornered her. He didn't want to push her too hard though, that would only make things worse. One day after school, Kurt was walking down the steps in font of Bayville High, he was feeling a little better then he usually did after school. Today in Math class he had noticed one of the girls staring at him. It was a bittersweet feeling though, no one, especially not a beautiful dark skinned girl, would look at him like that if she saw him for real. He saw Scott waving at him from his car and he trotted over. "Hey Kurt, ya need a ride home?"

"Ja, sure Shades." He hopped into the car as Scott fished for his keys. "Ha-ha, very funny Elf." They where just pulling out of the parking lot when Scott stopped and honked the horn. Kurt saw Kitty walking down the sidewalk. "Hey, Kitty." Scott called out to her. "You need a ride?" Kurt noticed her glace at him. He looked away, his good mood evaporating. "No, that's ok Scott, I'll just, like, walk." She turned and quickly walked away. Kurt sighed as they drove on, heading home. "Vhat should I do? It's been more zhen a veek and Keety still vont even look at me."

" Kurt, remember, before she came here Kitty didn't even know what a mutant was, let alone that she's one herself, and then she's moving half way across the country, away from her parents, it would take time for anyone to adjust to that alone." Kurt understood that, he had moved across the world to live with total strangers. "Besides, Logan's putting Kitty through her first Danger Room session today. There is no way she can avoid you then."

"And if she does?"

Scott smirked at him. "Then you better hope at least I'm there to save your fuzzy tail."

As Kurt and Scott walked into the mansion Logan met them coming down the stairs. "You two have thirty minutes to get ready and meet me outside the Danger Room." Kurt saluted Logan with mock seriousness. "Ja Sir Herr. Logan!" Logan ignored Kurt. "And make sure Red and the new girl are on time too." He headed past them out the front door. "I guess I'll go get ready." Kurt teleported to his room. Noticing an unfinished letter to his parents on his desk, he quickly finished it, signed it and stuffed it into an envelope, making a mental note to drop it in the mail box tomorrow morning. Finally Kurt found his uniform and put it on. After putting on his boots Kurt wondered if he should wear his image inducer to the Danger Room. Kitty had not seen him without it since that evening. He decided against it, it hadn't seemed help so far, and the Danger Room was one place he really felt comfortable as himself. Kurt left the image inducer on his desk, teleporting to the Danger Room door. Logan was already there, apparently lost in thought, undisturbed by the sound of Kurt's teleportation. Only when the scent of the sulfuric smoke reached him, did Logan look up at Kurt. "Where are the others?" He asked in his usual gruff manor. Kurt shrugged. "I don't know, I didn't see zhem on zhe vay here." Kurt looked thoughtful. "Alzhough, that certainly vould have been odd if I had." Wolverine shook his head and began entering the code for their session into a panel on the wall. Just then, Scott and Jean both came in the sliding door. They were wearing their uniforms, just as Kurt and Logan were. "Alright Cyclops," Logan used their code names while they were in uniform. "It's the basic setting, we'll keep it easy today for, the new kid, what name did she end up with?"

"Shadowcat"

"Yeah, you know what to do, I'm heading up to the control room, fill her in if she decides to show up." Kurt didn't really think that was fair, she wasn't that late was she? Scott and Jean were chatting and Kurt was practicing his handstands when Kitty did show up. She was wearing her uniform too, which Kurt couldn't help but look over. Kitty gave a squeak of surprise when she noticed Kurt as he flipped back onto his feet. She quickly turned her back on him to face Jean. "So, like, what exactly are we doing?" Jean exchanged a glace with Scott over Kitty's head. "Just listen to Sco-I mean Cyclops, he'll fill you in."

Scott clapped his hands together, anxious to get started. "Alright then, Shadowcat, this is your first Danger Room session so I'll give you a quick briefing. The objective is to last fifteen minutes without getting hit. There are different kinds of obstacles in there, each specially designed to help each of us to hone our powers. There's no way you could get through it alone but with the help of your team mates, it shouldn't be too difficult. We all need to stay together and watch each others backs. If you ignore any one of your team mates, there's a chance something might happen to them." Kurt snuck a glace at Kitty but she was still avoiding his gaze. "Ok team, ready?" They all nodded and Scott punched the button to open the doors to the Danger Room. Kurt ran in on all fours, instantly surveying the scene, Jean used her telepathy to fly herself in. Scott and Kitty ran in, Scott immediately blasting the heat seeking beach ball sized projectiles that flew around and hurtled themselves at the young mutants. Kurt teleported onto one of the clawed robotic arms, instantly teleporting away as another came in to grab him. He clung to the wall, temporarily out of harms way and glanced around till he saw Kitty. She was running to help Jean out of one of the clawed arms that had captured her. Suddenly four walls surrounded Kitty. She didn't have time to think and ran into the hard surface. She picked herself up and ran though the wall to help Jean. "Nightcrawler!" Kurt looked just in time to see several of the projectiles heading his way and teleported nearby Scott. Jean was free now and had a protective wall around him. "Vheres Shadowcat?" "Find her Nightcrawler!" Kurt teleported as high as he could on the wall, agilely dodging various obstacles. He spotted Kitty crouching behind a wall, stun beams firing at her. She looked scared. Kurt glanced at the timer; only eight minutes left. He teleported next to Kitty. When he appeared next to her in a puff of smoke she jumped back with a yell and one of the stun beams grazed her arm. Kurt grabbed her shoulders and tried not to think how much worse he was about to make things. "Hang on." He teleported with her to where Jean and Scott were waiting, still holding off the stun beams and projectiles. Kitty looked dizzy and swayed on her feet. Kurt caught her as her knees gave out from under her. Instantly the stun guns stopped firing and the walls and robotic arms withdrew. Logan's voice sounded over the intercom. "Good job kids, you still need work but that's it for today. Red, take the Half Pint to the infirmary, the Prof. will meet you there." They all marched out into the hall, Jean and Kitty making their way slowly to the infirmary. Scott and Kurt headed to the elevator that would take them back up to the main part of the mansion. Scott looked a little uneasy as he broke the silence. "So, what happened back there? That never happens when you teleport does it?" Kurt rubbed the back of his neck, not looking up at the other boy. "It used to. Vhen I first started. I've only taken somevone else vith me a couple times before. Same zhing happened, zhey got real dizzy and nearly fainted." They stopped at Scott's door and he turned to Kurt. "Well take it easy man, you got the rest of the day and a whole weekend to look forward to." Kurt shrugged unenthusiastically. "Ja, I guess." What do I have to look forward to? He headed back to his room on foot, not feeling much like porting. He closed the door behind him with his tail then fell face down on his bed and lay there for a while. Eventually he got up and changed out of his uniform. He sat down on the floor with his back against the end of his bed. Is this my life? Am I to forever live in hiding? He looked at his hands as he turned his image inducer on and off. He looked closely at his holographic hands; they still felt like his hands, they were still shaped the same, his holographic index and middle finger inseparable, same as his pinkie and ring finger. He climbed back onto his bed and curled up with his head at the foot, staring out the doors that lead outside. A soft knock at his door woke him up, though he didn't remember falling asleep. "Kurt. Its, its me, Kitty." Kurt stumbled to the door and practically flung it open. "Ja Keety?" He was still rubbing his eyes and didn't notice that even though he had his image inducer on, his tail was loose. "I, I just, like, wanted to say, thanks." Kurt thought she looked extremely tense and even though she wouldn't meet his eyes, he knew how hard this must be for her. "It vas nozing Keety, ve're a team and zhats vhat team mates do." Kitty looked up at his eyes for a moment before turning away. "Yeah well, thanks anyways." She walked quickly away down the hall and Kurt turned back into his own room. Maybe this would work out eventually after all.

Kurt stormed into his room and slammed the door. "Warum bin ich so dumm!"(Why am I so stupid?) He shouted in German. "Werde ich für immer verurteilt, um dumm zu sein und alleine! (Am I forever doomed to be stupid and alone?) He threw open his balcony doors, banging them back on their hinges and looked out over the trees to the bay and the late afternoon sky. He'd just come from a security system demo given by Logan. All the students had gathered to watch. After helping Kitty in the danger room that first time, he thought she had felt more comfortable around him, and she did for the most part. She talked to him and they worked on homework together but he tried to use his holowatch when he could. She even went so far as to tease him good-naturedly about his pointy ears. Though she didn't like it when he stood too close to her, or teleported around her, or made stupid jokes. All of which he had so tastefully displayed to her just now in the control room. Now they had to fly to Mississippi together, along with the rest of the team to pick up some out of control girl who apparently put a boy in a coma by touching him. Ah the fun filled life of an X-man.

Kurt can't really remember much about the Mississippi mission. He remembered chasing after the girl, then talking to her. He had his image inducer on, but then it turned off. What he really remembers is the searing pain in his head, along his neck, and a feeling he couldn't describe but he felt as if something had been taken from him, from his mind, but nothing seemed to be missing. Mostly there was pain though, and then blackness for what seemed like a long time. When he finally woke up, he felt like he had ported the whole two miles of his range, going one foot at a time.

He felt as if every drop of energy had been sucked out of him. But what he felt compared nothing to what he saw. Kitty. Albeit a blurry Kitty, but an almost ecstatic looking Kitty. "Kurt! You're all right!" Kurt's head spun again and he stumbled but Kitty held him on his feet. "Take easy you fuzzy elf." I must have been out for a long time, Kurt thought, either that or I've woken up in some sort of alternate universe. Kurt stopped thinking then. It hurt too much to think.

He was in and out of consciousness the entire flight back to the institute, but when ever he woke up Kitty was there. After arriving back at the mansion, Kurt was told to stay in bed for a couple days. He slept a lot, and read, and wrote to his parents. Kitty would check on him after school and bring him his homework. Scott and Jean looked in on him to, but not as often as Kitty. Finally the Professor let him go back to school which of course wasn't necessarily a good thing. At lunch Kurt looked around till he spotted Scott and went to sit next to him. Scott's friend Paul was there to. Kitty said bye to her friends and joined them. "Like, how ya feeling Kurt?" He smiled to himself. And all it took was getting knocked out and having the life drained out of me. I should have done this a long time ago. "I'm feeling good, zhanks Keety." His head still throbbed but he wanted to reassure her. "What were ya sick or something?" Kurt looked over at Paul. "Ja had the flu." Paul made a face. "You're not still contagious are you?"

After Paul had left they were free to talk. Just then the girl from Mississippi walked into the cafeteria. Kitty nearly choked on her ice tea. "Scott!" She lowered her voice. "Scott look it's her." Kurt and Scott watched her as she got into line with her tray. "I'll bet Mystique enrolled her. Zhere goes our chance at getting her to join us." As she looked for a place to sit, Lance and Todd, the other two mutants that had joined Mystique, waved at her to join them. She didn't literally go over, slap them across the face, and tell them never in a million years, but the look she gave them had pretty much the same affect. The X-men looked at each other. Maybe there was hope after all

Kurt was digging in his locker, muttering in German under his breath. A stack of his books slide out and hit the floor with multiple thuds. "Vondervoll." He bent down to pick up the books. A flash of white and brown across the hall caught his eye. He looked over his shoulder to see the girl opening her locker. His head pounded, as if reminded of the power in her touch. He didn't think that they had even gotten her name. He thought about going over to talk to her. After what the others said happened though, he wasn't sure if that would such a good idea. Just then she looked his way. Kurt held her gaze for a moment, smiling a little, before turning back to his books. Maybe she would realize that he didn't hold it against her for what happened. We're not so different, he thought to himself as he watched her head away down the hall.

Kurt's hands and feet pounded the earth. He had his target in sight, his prey. He ran along the forest floor, his quarry was a sly one though, slipping in and out of the forest almost like a shadow, a ghost. He ported, aiming when to re-enter, he landed almost on top of his target. There, a slipup, Kurt teleported again. "Ah ha, It's mine now Keety!" He sat on a log with the freshly captured foot ball. Kitty growled at him. "Gimme that!" She ran at him but he ported again right in front of her. Kurt landed on a branch in a nearby tree. Suddenly he heard a loud crack and fell toward the ground. Kitty leapt up, through Kurt, snatched the football and, adding insult to injury, pulled his tail. She laughs at him as he growls at her from the dirt. "I can't believe you pulled my tail! I vouldn't ever do zhat to you." Kitty pushed some loose hair from her face. "Like, news flash Nightcrawler, I don't have a tail." Kurt smirked at her. "Ja but if you did I vouldn't pull it." They both looked up as Logan called out. "Elf! Find Cyclops." Jean had been kidnapped; Scott would know who was behind this. Kurt thought for a second, Scott was in the park studying with _her_, Rouge she called herself. He ported nearby, confirmed there was no one nearby, then teleported right to their table, right on the table to be exact. Rouge and Scott were looking right at each other. The way he often saw Scott look at Jean. "Whoa, tender moment here? Sorry to interrupt." Rouge scoffed and flicked her hand in his direction like she was shooing away a fly. "Ah swear he's like, an annoying little brother." Kurt was a little taken aback by that comment. Like anyone could stand being her brother? He stuck his tongue out at her for good measures. After getting Scott back to the institute, so he could change. (Why did he have to change into his uniform to rescue Jean?) Scott jumped into his little red car and sped off. Professor Xavier handed Kurt the keys to the X-van. "You and Kitty check around town, Scott is heading for the school." Kurt headed for the garage with Kitty close behind.

Kurt and Kitty pulled up in the van at an abandoned iron factory just as a red beam shot through the roof, knocking the boy known as Blob up and away from the building. Kurt jumped out and slammed the door behind him, running toward the building. That red beam was Cyclops, he must have found Jean. Kurt stopped short and Kitty almost ran into him. Scott was laying on the ground, next to Wolverine, visor-less and unconscious. That only left one other possibility. Just then Rouge and Jean came out of the factory. Jean ran over to Scott and helped him sit up. Kurt watched as Rouge picked up Scott's visor and helped him put it on. She helped us. Kurt realized. She attacked one of the Brotherhood. She isn't on their team. But she's not on our team either, yet. Yeah, Kurt smiled. There is still hope.

Kurt studied his hand. Not his hands, but his poker hand. Logan was trying to teach him and Kitty how to play poker. Ororo was out of town visiting her sister and the Professor was working on Cerebro. Kurt was sure if either of the two adults were present, they wouldn't be learning how to play poker. Kurt was having a hard time figuring out the rules and Kitty didn't even seem to be trying. She giggled and she looked across the table at Scott. "You like, have any fours?" Logan took a couple of deep breaths. "For the last time Half Pint, we are not playing go fish!" Kurt sniggered, tapping Scott on the shoulder with his tail then peeking at his cards when he turned away. The front door bell rang. "Ja! Pizzas here!" Kurt leapt out of his chair and over the poker table. Running out the door on all fours. "Make sure a couple slices make it back for the rest of us!" Scott yelled after him. Kurt switched him image inducer on before porting behind the stair case in the foyer. He ran to the front door and handed the money to the delivery boy. "Thanks have a good evening." The pizza boy headed down the stairs before noticing Kurt had paid him too much. He turned around but all he saw was a fading wisp of smoke. Kurt ported right back into his seat, dropping the pizza on top of their poker game. "Yumm!" Kitty dug into her veggie pizza with no peppers or mushrooms, Scott went for a supreme, and Logan just grumbled to himself and took a meat lovers. Kurt took one of each. Kitty laughed, holding her hand over her mouth. "Scott you have cheese on your chin." Kurt got an evil glint in his eye. He flicked an olive slice at Kitty and it hit her on the cheek. "Keety! You have an olive on you cheek." Kitty squealed and wiped it off. "Kurt! You stupid blue rat!" She threw a pizza crust at him but he ducked. "Brunnen sind Sie ein ärgerliches kleines Mädchen, das nicht Poker spielen kann." Kitty ran around the table at him but he ported on to the top of the book shelf. "If you're gonna insult me at least do it in English." Kurt grinned at her. "Ok, I said you're an annoying little girl who can't play poker." Even Logan's lip curled into a little smile at that. Kitty looked around for something else to throw at him but when she failed to she just glared daggers at him for a moment before storming out the door. Kurt ported back down to the table. "She vasn't really mad vas she?" Logan was putting his cards away. "I don't know Elf, girls her age can get upset pretty quickly." Kurt picked up another slice of pizza. "Should I go say sorry?" Scott was looking up at the ceiling. "I wouldn't apologize just yet Kurt." Kurt looked at him. "Vas?" Suddenly Kitty dropped from the ceiling right on top of Kurt. She sat on him and yanked his tail. Scott watched calmly. "Ok Kurt, I'd say now would be a good time to apologize."

Later that night, Kurt was in his room writing another letter to his parents.

He usually left out things like danger room sessions and fighting with the Brotherhood but he liked to keep them up to date on what was going on in his new life. After finishing the letter he was still not tired. He took his journal and teleported onto the roof of the mansion. It was a little chilly but not too bad. There were thin clouds sailing in front of the half moon and the bay looked like black silver. He opened his journal and began to write.

Dear Journal,

I know it's been a long time since I wrote but things have been really hectic. Logan has been going harder on us in the danger room and the Brotherhood has been causing trouble more often now ever since Rouge showed up. The Professor told us tonight that another student is being enrolled. His name is Evan and he's actually Miss. Munroe's nephew. The Prof. said something about his powers, shooting boney spikes or something like that. I wonder how this will go over. I can't wait. (sarcasm)

Sincerely, Kurt Wagner

Kurt closed his journal and lay back on the roof staring at the sky until his eyes began to feel heavy. He yawned just as he ported back to his room and ended up coughing, making a mental note to never do that again.

A couple days later, as Kurt, Kitty and Scott came in the front door after school; they found Ororo, Professor Xavier, a man and woman who could only be Ororo's sister and brother in law, and somewhat upset looking teenage boy with bleach blond hair that must be Evan. Professor X turned to his students and they walked up to the group. "Ah good, right on time. Mr. and Mrs. Daniels, these are the rest of our students, Scott Summers, you've met, and this is Kitty Pryde, and Kurt Wagner." Kitty and Kurt said their greetings, to the adults and Evan. "Kurt, would you show Evan to his room and then meet us in my office." The Professor turned back to speak with Evan's parents. "Sichere Sache, zhis vay Evan." Kurt led him up the stairs to the second floor where all the bedrooms were located. Evan looked around at all the doors and hallways. "Man this place is huge, don't you ever get lost here?" Kurt laughed a little "Ja at first, but I make a point of knowing my vay around a place." Kurt jerked his thumb at a door as they passed "Zhats zhe boys room. Just make sure you alvays knock." They finally got the spare room next to Kurt's own that would be Evan's room. "Cool, thanks." Evan heaved his suitcase onto his bed and looked around the room while Kurt leaned against the door frame. "So, everyone here's a mutant right?" Evan investigated the empty dresser. "Ja, everyone." He looked up at Kurt. "So what's your power?" Kurt teleported from the door way to the other side of the room. Evan looked around for where he had gone before spotting him. "Whoa that's tight man!" Kurt was pleased that he had impressed the new kid. "Zhanks, it sure comes in handy sometimes." Evan held his hand out to Kurt. "Kurt right? Evan Daniels." Kurt looked hesitantly at his hand, his light mood changing instantly to unease. Evan looked confused and laughed a little. "You're not one of those germ freaks that can't touch anyone are you?" Kurt flinched at the word 'freak' even though he knew Evan hadn't meant it in that way. Kurt was definitely uneasy now. "Vell, not exactly…" Kurt could feel his tail tugging to get loose from his waist, where he often wrapped it to keep it out of the way while wearing his image inducer. _Kurt, Evan, we're waiting in my office._ Kurt just sighed with relief as Evan looked around wildly. "Whoa! What was that!" Kurt knew the Professor had called them at that moment on propose. Thanks, He thought out loud for him. "Zhat vas just the Prof., he's telepathic. Come one I'll show you zhe vay to his office."

It took the rest of the evening for Evans parents to make sure he was settled in well enough to leave. It's a good thing Miss. Munro is his aunt or else they'd probably want to stay the night. Kurt watched from the top of the staircase as Evan hugged his mom and dad and waved as they drove off. Kurt told himself that his own parents loved him just as much as Evan's parents loved him. Just because Kurt wasn't related by blood the same way as Evan made no difference. He did wonder every once in a while though, who were his biological parents, what kind of people were they? Were they mutants too? Maybe they hadn't abandoned him the way he always imagined. Maybe they had loved him. If his adopted parents could love him, it's possible. Kurt just watched as Evan ran up the stairs and down the hall, followed by the sound of his door slamming. Kurt just sighed and ported to his room.

It was the next day at school. Scott and Kurt were showing Evan around the school. Kurt was glad to see he had a lot of the same classes as Evan, so he could help him get around the school. "Here, this is your homeroom; just give Jean a shout if you need anything." He had explained what a shout meant in this case. "Yeah I get it. See ya man." Kurt waved to him as he ran down the hall to get to his own room. "Mr. Wagner!" Kurt stopped dead, almost tripping over himself. "Miss. Darkholme." The extremely intimidating principal was staring at Kurt with a look that could stop a charging lion in its tracks. "I'm sure I didn't just see you running in the halls. Did I, Mr. Wagner?" Kurt thought it was a very cruel question. She obviously had seen him running so if he said no, she'd give him detention for lying, if he said yes she'd give him detention for running. She can't give someone detention just for running can she? No choice he told himself. "Yes Miss. Darkholme, I didn't vant to be late for class." She watched him for what seemed like entirely too long. She didn't seem like a principal at all. Any person who delights in mentally torturing kids as much as Miss. Darkholme did shouldn't be allowed any job that involved young people of any kind. She acted more like one of those female secret agents you see on TV. The ones who carry multiple guns and use them often. Kurt seriously thought she was secretly an assassin or mercenary. "Ok then Mr. Wagner; you had better walk quickly to class. But if I catch you running in the halls again, you will have detention." "Yes Miss. Darkholme." Kurt walked quickly toward class, but mostly away from the principal. Kurt could swear she was harder on him but then again, she was treated all the students pretty much the same. He had actually seen her give out detention to other students for less then running in the halls. Maybe she was feeling generous today. The bell rang just as he was sitting down at his desk. "Dummes Darkholme." Kurt muttered to himself. "Hey Kurt. Ya got plans after school?" He looked over his shoulder. It was Josh, one of his few non-mutant friends. They had a danger room session with Logan that day but not till that evening. "Nein, I'm free, what's up?" "We're going to the grand opening of a new electronics store at the mall, they'll be music and free stuff." Kurt didn't know a lot about technology but he was still interested in electronics and of course all kinds of new games. He didn't think any of it would compare with the kind of technology he used on a daily basis, from his image inducer to the danger room and pretty much the entire mansion. "Ja, sounds like fun." "Awesome, meet ya out front after school then."

Kurt met up with Evan at lunch to see how he was doing. "It's alright, no different from my old school. Except all my friends are at my old school." Kurt could understand why he hadn't wanted to leave his old school. "You know I never vent to school before I moved here." Evan looked over at him. "Really? How come?" Kurt poked at his food a little. "It vasn't very easy for me to go to school, or out in public for that matter." He added before realizing he'd have to explain why. Evan didn't seem to get it. "Why cause your," He lowered his voice. "Cause you're a mutant? But you go to school now." The school cafeteria wasn't the place Kurt would normally pick to talk about this sort of thing but he couldn't really see a way around it. "My mutation affects the vay I look. I wear this," he kept his voice just above a whisper as he held up his image inducer. "It's a holographic projector that makes me look like every body else." For a second Evan's face was unreadable, and then a smile spread across his face. "That's a good one dude; I'll admit you actually had me going there for a second. So what, you got green skin or three eyes?" Kurt was almost hurt. He'd never told anyone about himself like this but he never expected them to think he was making it up. Why would he lie about something like that? "You don't believe me? Come on." Kurt grabbed his back pack and headed for the door. He looked back to see Evan following with a confused look on his face. Kurt walked out into the quad looking around before going around the corner of the building to a niche behind the auditorium, hidden so you can only see into it from once direction. Kurt had chosen this spot to teleport to incase of emergencies, if his image inducer broke. Now, he stood there with Evan. "Now keep quiet, and don't yell or anyzhing." Evan looked a little worried now. "Are you serious man? You're kinda freaking me out." Kurt smirked at him. "Just vait." He touched the button on his inducer and felt the faint static as his hologram fell. "Holy sh!" Kurt held a finger to his lips. "Shh, keep it down. You didn't believe me so I had to show you." Evan looked more closely at Kurt, at his hands and tail. "Whoa." Evan kept his voice low now. "Is that fur? Dude, you have a tail!" Kurt couldn't tell if Evan was disgusted or impressed. Sometimes it's hard to tell with American teenagers. He turned his image inducer back on. "Believe me now?" He watched Evan for a while. "It's weird; normally I think I'd freak out if I met someone with blue fur and a tail. But now, after meeting all you guys. It seems almost, normal." Kurt sighed with relief and started walking back to the main building next to Evan. "You have no idea how good it is to hear zhat Spyke."

Kurt fell onto his bed face first, resting before changing out of his uniform after a tiring danger room session. He pulled his gloves and boots off then changed into his pajamas. He set his image inducer on his night stand then turned off the lamp.

Kurt was in a house he didn't recognize. It was a huge house, way bigger then the institute. It looked very old fashion, sort of Victorian like. All the other X-men were with him. Rouge was there to, she looked like was there with them. They all kind of wandered the huge house for a while, not saying anything. Suddenly there was a man and woman standing in the hall in front of them. They had cloths from the same period as the house décor, like Europe in the 30s. The people started yelling at them and chasing them. The X-men separated and Kurt took off running. He jumped around the house before finally slamming the door of a dark bedroom and hiding in the closet. He could hear foot steps then the lights outside his closet turned on. Someone flung open the closet door and Kurt teleported away. Somehow he knew he had to save his friends and that he had to turn off all the lights in the mansion in order to do that. Kurt teleported around the house, flipping lights off. When ever he ran into one of the adults who were chasing them, he would flip off lights until they almost caught him then teleport away, leaving smoke in their faces. Finally he found the other students, tied down with a single length of rope. Kurt could hear the people coming; he grabbed the rope in his hands and teleported a few feet away, taking the rope with him. The other X-men ran just as the people came after them. Kurt leapt out of reach, jumping and climbing along the walls and ceiling. His superb agility helped him evade the grasp of the enemies until he finally caught sight of the door out. There was an older woman blocking his way. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. His legs pushed hard off the floor as he made his way for the exit. Suddenly the woman reached up and caught him in surprisingly strong arms. Kurt thrashed and struggled but the woman held him tight. Then he bit down on her shoulder and neck, blood filling his mouth.

Kurt woke up with his fur standing on end like static. He shot up in bed, his sheets tangled around him and spat on the floor, barely keeping from throwing up. "Nein! Oh Gott nein, nein, nein, nein." He sat shivering for a moment then got up and peeked out the door, making sure no one had woken up, and crept down the hall to the bathroom. After almost fifteen minutes of brushing his teeth, Kurt got back in bed. That was a completely new nightmare. One he was hoping wouldn't come back again. Kurt stared at his dark ceiling for a few minutes before switching his image inducer back on, then going to sleep.

The next day, Kurt didn't get out of bed right away after waking up. He lay on his side and watched as the sky grew lighter outside his window. His bedside clock read 8:34am when Scott knocked lightly on his door. "Kurt? You up yet?" Kurt didn't move. "Ja, I'll be down in a minute." After changing, Kurt teleported outside the kitchen door. "What the?" He looked behind him to see Evan. "Ich Entschuldige mich Evan." Evan looked at Kurt blankly. "Come again." Kurt shook his head to clear it. "I mean sorry Evan." He turned to go into the kitchen. "So do you just pop all over the house like that all the time." "Pretty much." Kurt answered, not really paying attention to Evan. The two boys sat down at the table where the rest of the X-men were already almost done eating. "It's about time you boys joined us." Ororo poured them both some orange juice. "I was whipped after that training session yesterday Auntie O." Evan yawed as if to prove how exhausted he was. Kurt picked at his food. "I didn't sleep well." The other students looked at each other. They knew what it meant when Kurt said he didn't sleep well. "_You_ didn't sleep well?" Evan obviously didn't understand. "I was having an awesome dream where I pounded that little sneak Pietro when some inhuman screaming wakes me up. Sounded like an animal getting killed or something." Ororo gave Evan a stern glare. "Evan, that's enough." Evan laughed, apparently amused that he had freaked out his aunt. Kurt stared at his plate breathing quickly. He knew Evan didn't realize what he said but it hurt anyways. He had been compared to a number of things in his life, an animal, a monster, a demon. He felt a touch on his arm and looked up to see Kitty, a look of sympathy on her face. Kurt smiled at her, feeling genuinely better knowing no matter how many nightmares he had to face, that's all they would ever be now, just nightmares. He lived in a safe place now, with people who cared for him in spite of everything. He knew he would never have to go through real life nightmares again.

The End


End file.
